The cries of many newborns have echoed in hospitals across the region over the past year. 639 babies were born at the Jura Hospital in 2021. These are eight infants less than a year earlier but five more than in 2019. “This number confirms the upward trend”, rejoices the H-JU.
For its part, the St-Imier site of the Bernese Jura Hospital recorded a birth record in 2021: 410 infants against 160 a little over ten years ago. What to rejoice for the institution, which operates important changes within its maternity. Dr Amgad Kashef is the Chief Physician of the Gynecology Department at the HJB. According to him, this increase in the number of births is mainly the result of the work of young and well-trained caregivers. The closure of the maternity unit at the La Chaux-de-Fonds site of the Neuchâtel Hospital in 2010 also made it possible to welcome more future mothers in St-Imier.
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The coronavirus crisis also has something to do with it. “All pandemics are associated with a drop in the birth rate,” explains Amgad Kashef. “This is what we observed with the Spanish flu around 1920”. This phenomenon is then followed by an increase in the number of births. We observe a similar pattern between 2020 and 2021. “We expect a lot of babies for the month of January, which confirms this phenomenon,” concludes the doctor without hiding his enthusiasm. / ddc
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